The Biggest Toad in the Puddle
by Tsume Yuki
Summary: In which the Master of Death finds himself reborn and Jiraiya get's confirmation of what he's always known; he has no idea what to do with a kid. Good thing this one came self-sufficient. (MoD and reborn Harry)
1. Prologue

**The Biggest Toad in the Puddle**

_x _

**Prologue  
><strong>落雷  
><em>Rakurai<em>

Jiraiya, The Great Toad Sage, one of the three Sannin, home-town legend and self-proclaimed super-pervert, was at a loss.

This didn't happen often.

As a master spy, a Fūinjutsu expert and better than Jonin but not quite Hokage material ninja, it was rare that he came across such a mental road-block. Normally his mind was a fighting fit machine that worked in perfect harmony with his equally fit body -are you listening ladies?- so that he didn't suffer from hiccups like this. Problems like this were not suppose to come about in his life. He was one of the strongest ninja around, even a Kage thought twice about tangling with him. Bandits on the road, forget about them. Best-selling author, yeah, he most certainly was. And rather easy on the eyes if he must say so himself.

So it was understandable that he was confused over the fact that he was confused. But when facing a dilemma such as this, perhaps he was allowed to act a little like a drunk-yard right now, stood gaping at what he saw before him.

In fact, that would be much better, if this was all a drink induce hallucination, that what he was seeing before his eyes more incorrect, that he was actually out cold somewhere, nuzzled between the valley of a well-endowed lady's chest, snoring away and that this was all a dream.

Oh, he was a ladies man, his proudest title, if he did say so himself. After super-pervert of course.

But he was always, always careful.

He was a ninja, he was a vicious killing machine that was ruthless and merciless and spectacular in every way possible.

What he was not, was a father.

And still, the sight before his eyes proclaimed that statement to be a bold faced lie.

The kid, who couldn't be older than three, looked back up at him with huge green eyes, confusion warping his features. But even so Jiraiya could still pick them out. Cute button nose, thin lips and a soft jawline that looked nothing like his own face. The eyes were obviously not his. But the red lines that defined the lower lids were. The skin tone was. Hell, the furiously spiked bird's nest of white hair was without doubt his. The kid, had it not been for the eyes and the more delicate features, would have been a perfect mini Jiraiya.

Which was what had him so worried.

Behind the kid, with her arms folded across his chest, was who he assumed to be the mother. Same nose, same lips, same delicate jaw. But her eyes were a watered down honey. So where the kids emerald gaze was from, who knew. It's not like Jiraiya had known his parents' names, let alone what colour their eyes had been.

"Your kid, so he'll go with you." The woman, who's name he honestly couldn't remember -cut him a break, there were loads of them out there and he appreciated them all- sneered slightly, the kid tilting his head up to look at his mother, face expressionless. It was almost scary to see such a face on a child so young. Clearly there was no love lost here.

He couldn't leave the kid here.

Not only did his mother clearly not want him, but all it would take was a passing, non-leaf shinobi to see the resemblance and his life would be cut shockingly short in an instant. But he couldn't really travel with Jiraiya himself. Weren't kids suppose to need extortionate amounts of attention? Lots of time and care? That was the whole reason he'd left Naruto at the Leaf Village after all. He didn't have that kind of thing in him.

His thoughts must have shown on his face, because Honey Eyes threw her hands up in the air before pointing one finger at him, a vicious scowl on her face.

"He's already doing that ninja magic! We can't have that in the den."

Cringing at the mention of the woman's 'work-place', Jiraiya looked back down at the young kid.

"Can you show me?" He didn't know anything about kids, how much they knew or could understand of the outside world at what age. He knew there were prodigies, last time he'd been in Konoha the Uchiha were singing their latest genius heir praises, as if he were a god in human form. If they kid was preforming some kind of 'ninja magic' then maybe he'd be able to understand Jiraiya's request.

He squatted to the kids level as he held out his hand, watching the boy hesitate before offering his own hand in return. Jiraiya could already feel the chakra in the body dancing around, and not a moment later his little palm lit up with a coating of blue chakra. But that wasn't the only energy in this kid, there was something else there as well. Some kind of energy that wasn't quite nature chakra, but something close. A new bloodline?

Jiraiya looked back a the kid's face, noting a thin scar poking out from under one bang. Slowly, so as not to startle the boy -kids were always jumpy if you moved too quickly- Jiraiya brushed the hair back, inspecting the lightning bolt scar.

"How'd he get the scar?"

The woman huffed, folding her arms and looking away.

"Born with it." That was odd.

But if the brat could use chakra, maybe he wouldn't be so much of a handful, and someone would have to train his son after all. And as his -dear god, how had this happened?- father, the duty obviously had to fall to him.

"What's your name kid?"

"Rakurai." Lightning strike? Dear lord, had this woman no brain inside her head?

Looking at the boy, Rakurai, Jiraiya let out a low breath before slowly opening his arms for a hug.

Rakurai watched him hesitantly, but stepped forwards nevertheless.

"Wanna be a ninja kid?"

"Are you a ninja?" For a little tyke, he spoke surprisingly well.

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable, Jiraiya stood up, Rakurai propped up on his hip. He turned to the woman, ready to proclaim he'd take the kid with him, only to see that she was already walking away.

So instead, he forced himself to focus on the kid, his kid, and deciding what the hell to do with him.

"Yes I am."

"Why not." Came Rakurai lazy agreement, offered with a shrug of his shoulders, a small smile playing upon his lips as his green eyes lit up a bit. Well, at least the woman, who's name he still didn't know, hadn't snuffed out all his spirit.

"Come on then kid. We'll figure it out as we go."

And that about summed up the next nine years of Jiraiya's life.

* * *

><p><strong>Hahaha, so it begins.<strong>

**Right, well Rakurai basically means Lightning strike or bolt of lightning or something like that. the Kanji are under the Prologue up at the top, for google it but I'm pretty sure I'm right. **

**So here we have a reborn Harry. I can't see Jiraiya taking to parenthood like a duck to water, I'm sure it'd be a rough and bumpy ride, but of course since Harry is reborn, he's pretty much self-sufficient right now. I'm fond of Jiraiya though, so it'll be fun writing his character.  
>Harry is three here, and the same age as Naruto and co. So, we're in for a time-skip next, but we may get flash-backs and stories of Harry's childhood as we go on. Which is sure to be interesting.<strong>

**This is sure going to be good fun to write,**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	2. A New Chunin on the Block

**The Biggest Toad in the Puddle**

_x _

**Chapter 1**  
><em>A New Chunin on the Block<em>

"I don't understand. How has your son managed to become such a little gentleman?"

Harry felt a little smirk fall on his lips, standing tall from his bow as his father, the new one, spluttered away beside him. Harry James Potter, or as he was now known, Rakurai, couldn't help but smirk to himself really.

Upon reaching the grand old age fo 129, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, Man-Who-Conquered, had followed his wife out of his world and into the arms of Death. And then Death had stuffed his soul into a new body. Because apparently as Master of the Deathly Hallows, and thus the Master of Death, he couldn't truly die. A Servant could not harm the Master.

Or so Death had said.

In all honestly, Harry figured that Death had created those Hallows so that he'd have an excuse as to why he was tormenting whatever poor soul managed to collect them all. Either that, or the eternity had grown bored and decided to set the stage for a new form of entertainment. Harry didn't appreciate it. Or, he hadn't at first.

Being born to a mother who clearly didn't want him had stung. Especially when he figured out her profession. Anyone could have been his father.

He was a month old when he realized he still had his magic and the power of all three Hallows, even if he couldn't physically touch the objects which seemed to refuse his summons. He was two years old when he came to the solid conclusion that there were no wizards present in this world. Instead, there were ninja. He was three years old when he met his father in this world.

Jiraiya was an alright guy, Harry liked him well enough.

True the man had not really had much of a clue what he was doing when it came to a young child, nor any idea how to raise them. If it'd been any other child than a reborn Harry Potter, then the man would have probably lost him by now. But he did have a reborn Harry Potter for a son, so not only did his little boy follow all the rules, but he cooked the food as well. Because a Jiraiya dinner was not good, and when he reached the age of five, Harry had adamantly refused to continue living off of take-outs and pub food. That Dursley cooking training had shone through, only he liked cooking for this family member, because it was highly appreciated and Jiraiya would often marvel at the ability.

Just like how Harry would marvel at his ninja tricks.

He wasn't sure about the whole ninja business, or rather, he'd been unsure at first. That was until he'd started to treat it like his introduction to the wizarding world. He'd just accepted that this was the way things were here.

In the wizarding world goblins ran banks and little house-elves ran around as slaves.

And in the ninja world children were raised to defend their country and were taught moves of mass destruction.

He was a part of this world, so he might as well just roll with it and help as many people as he could. Jiraiya had tried hard, he'd been a good dad and taught him all about the Konoha, the ninja within it and the system it ran by. How it was the workforce of Fire country, his home. Harry had been taught over a thousand ways to kill a man, hundreds of ways to detain them and every move he could ever dream of when it came down to fighting with his body instead of chakra and magic. Taijutsu, Jiraiya had called it. Ninjutsu and Genjutsu were the ninja tricks. Fūinjutsu was pretty much the equivalent of Ancient Runes, in which he'd been self taught. He could still use the runes, but Fūinjutsu had more applications, and as his knowledge grew, he became more and more focused upon using it in battle. The possibilities were endless.

Jiraiya had even told him that the biggest seal he'd seen was one used to summon a Shinigami, a death god. Of course, using the Shinigami to seal something was a forfeit of your own life, hence why Jiraiya had refused to teach him the seal array.

Harry didn't dare mention the possibility that he could be considered a Shinigami himself. Just a feeling, but a sinking feeling it was; Harry knew he was right on the money with it.

.

Regardless though, everything boiled down to the fact Jiraiya had given him a good childhood full of lots of adventure, and had managed to train him up so that when they returned to the Leaf -well, his arrival, Jiraiya was just dropping him off- he could serve his country well. It wasn't the much different from working as an Auror, Harry told himself. Just a somewhat more bloody job. But he'd been taking out villains since he was a year old. No point in fixing what was not broken.

Which saw him stood before the Hokage today, leader of the Leaf Village. His leader.

"I know, I tried to corrupt him, I really did," Jiraiya ran a hand under his eyes, flicking away the imaginary tears of shame as he did so, "but he was just too pure-hearted for me."

Harry grinned, running a hand through his spiky white hair. He kept it somewhat short, with longer bangs just like his father falling on each side of his face. The red markings that'd always rested beneath his eyes had started to form the signature lines of Jiraiya's long forgotten clan, falling an inch down his cheeks from the very corner of his eyes.

"And you say he shows Chũnin level skill?"

His father was serious in an instant, leaning back against the wall beside the window they'd leapt through, leaving Harry stood in the center of the room, the Hokage still behind his desk and two ANBU in the rafters.

"Easily. He's got the mindset too, and I'd expect him testing for Jonin within the year. But I want the brat to form some connections with kids his own age."

"So that you can go to the bath-houses without me hounding you?" Harry asked with a raised brow, folding his arms across his chest and watching as Jiraiya cracked a grin in response.

"Of course. You drew the ladies when you were a kid, but you're a little too big to play the cutie magnet now."

The Hokage gave a low groan, rubbing his finger and thumb against his forehead, no doubt ashamed of his student's behaviour. Harry didn't mind though. His dad was eccentric, and if peeking in on the bath-houses was his way of ignoring or dealing with all the trauma he'd suffered through his life, well then good for him. The kunoichi in the village would certainly give him hell if he was caught though, so Harry considered it fair game.

If his father wanted to risk life and limb by spying on professional killers, it was up to him to keep all his significant appendages attached.

"Report to the third training ground at eight-hundred hours tomorrow morning, you'll meet the team you'll spend the rest of the year with."

Harry nodded, sensing the dismissal and offering a parting bow. He'd head to Jiraiya's house, which was to become his official home now that he wasn't constantly on the road.

"Yes Hokage-sama."

* * *

><p>Kakashi Hatake was unsure of what to think. Though he knew he felt two distinct emotions.<p>

Amusement was the first. It was only logical that Jiraiya would eventually slip up. He'd pushed his luck just that little bit too far and now he had his own little ducky trailing after him. A mini Jiraiya that was no doubt as big of a trouble magnet as the one that came before him. It amused Kakashi on some level, that the man who'd announced he would never bother having a kid because they would no doubt be a pain to raise, had been saddle with one regardless of his wishes.

All the Jonins of the village had been informed of this a week ago, when the Hokage had received a letter conveying to him that Jiraiya was bringing the kid to the leaf village. It'd been a running joke for the past seven days, but now the joke was on Kakashi. Brining him to the second emotion he felt.

Exasperation.

For who should get lumped with the offspring of the super-pervert? Him of course. The little ducky would be joining his genin team, but not as one of the little ankle bitters. Oh no, it couldn't be that easy. No, Kakashi had gotten his marching orders, told to watch over the kid and assess him for possible promotion to special Jonin or Chũnin leader depending on what he saw over this next year.

A year with the spawn of Jiraiya.

What god had he offended? And how could he fix it?

Regardless, he'd forced himself to turn up to the training grounds on time today, for the first time in the week he'd had his little duckies. And he could feel a tick developing.

They weren't here. Not on time.

He'd told them seven o'clock yesterday. True he'd not been planning to turn up until eleven, but that was before he'd been told of his newest little nuisance. It would have given him an hour to debrief the little ones before he introduced them to the new beta in the pack.

But he couldn't debrief them if they weren't here.

And now it was eight o'clock and he didn't have Genin to brief but instead a confused Chũnin ready to be introduce to a team that weren't here. It was obvious the kid was Jiraiya's, who else had such a wild mess of white hair? Oh, it was shorter than the sannin's, in a style that looked startlingly like Minato-sensei's. But the big green eyes weren't Jiraiya's. The kid had a delicate face too, pretty even. Poor brat, it wouldn't be long till the girls were all over him. Kakashi felt his pain. Maybe he should recommend a mask?

"Hatake-san?" The boy seemed just as confused as Kakashi was over the fact there were no Genin present, his eyes roving the undergrowth as if expecting the kids to jump out and surprise him.

"Yo."

"Am I in the wrong training ground? I thought I was getting introduced to a Genin team?" He paused, and the almost as if an after thought, "and that you were chronically late?"

Beaming at the kid, Kakashi put his much adored book away, already taking note of the flicker of recognition the boy had shown upon noticing the book's cover. His father's best work.

"Yes, well my cute little ankle biters are not present, and will be ran into the ground as soon as they appear. Your name?"

"Rakurai," the boy offered a bow. Kakashi was impressed. He had no idea how Jiraiya had managed to raise such a polite boy, but it shouldn't be too long until the kid starting showing whatever eccentric tendencies he had. Probably trying to make a good impression. Which was more than his Genin had done.

He liked the kid already.

"Well, I think we'll start with a spar."

.

The kid was good, especially for his age. He was short, perhaps only an inch or so taller than Naruto. And he used it to his advantage. Along with his agility and speed. And he was a speedy little thing. Faster than most Chũnin, it was evident his Taijutsu was based around outmanoeuvring his opponent, using his swift reflects to his advantage. Had Kakashi not been a Jonin, he wouldn't have been able to keep up.

But he was, and thus, was faster than the kid as a result. That didn't mean his Taijutsu wasn't impressive though. Better than Sasuke, that was for sure. But Rakurai had been trained by a Sannin, what else did he expect?

"Ready to move on to Ninjutsu?" Kakashi caught the leg that would have easily bowled him over and into the nearest tree had it been allowed to make correct contact, twisting the brat to a side before he could use the sudden closeness to his advantage and sink his fist into Kakashi's face. He was a vicious little bugger, using every opening he was given, either to land a hit or to make a bigger opening as Kakashi tried to block the one he'd created. Smart kid.

"Sure," Rakurai landed on both feet, chest heaving slightly from the punishing pace they'd set and suddenly Kakashi found himself hoisted into the air by his ankles. And the kid was still a good twenty feet away.

Quickly pulling his upper body up in the same motion one would use during inverted sit-ups, Kakashi managed to miss the punch that Rakurai threw, the boy skidding under his body when his fist met no resistance. But he'd be attacking the second he recovered, which meant that Kakashi needed to get whatever jutsu this was off himself, and fast.

Only, this didn't feel quite like chakra.

It was some form of similar energy, but not at the same time. Well, that was terrifying, the Hokage hadn't mentioned the brat had a bloodline limit. Probably wanted it to be a surprise. Thankfully, it was disrupted in the same way that Genjutsu went, a little burst of chakra around the effective area of his body, and Kakashi was dropping back to his feet again, just missing the kunai that sliced off a few strands of hair.

"Maa, now that was impressive," Kakashi mused, backing up a bit and running through the hand-seals for a fire-ball jutsu. He went slow for the boy's sake, and watched as Rakurai's eyes lit up in recognition, flashing through seals of his own at the average pace of a Chũnin. So the kid was quick with his body but not as fast with his hands. They'd need to work on that.

Kakashi spat out the fireball at the same time the kid blew out a stream of water, using only one hand to remain focused on the jutsu. While the other-

Kakashi's visible eye widened a bit. The other hand was gathering raw lightning chakra, which he plunged into the water stream the second sparks started popping into existence around his fingers. The water crackled with electricity, scorching everything the liquid touched. Which was not Kakashi, thanks to a quick substitution jutsu.

"That was dangerous little toad boy."

Said toad boy scowled, pulling a kunai out of his pocket and looking around for the source of the comment. But he'd been careful to throw his voice around the clearing and- the kid had disappeared.

Pulling his head-band up, Kakashi scanning the surroundings with Obito's Sharingan, blinking in surprise. No chakra, other than what was left over in the water attack that Rakurai had used. And yet, the little ripples in the larger puddle said the boy was still present. Just not visible, to the naked eye or a Dōjutsu.

That was interesting.

"I take it back my earlier words, that's far more impressive," Kakashi leapt down into the clearing, already sensing the approach of one naughty Genin. And he needed a suitable punishment.

The kid seemed to snap back into existence, standing exactly where he had been before, one minute invisible and the next, stood right before him. Now that was an impressive jutsu; a bloodline trait? Whatever it was, the kid was going to go far with it.

Rakurai's head snapped up, turning to face the direction that one of his little gophers was coming from. Ah good, so he sensed him too.

"One of your missing pups?" The white haired boy asked, tilting his head to a side curiously. He was busy bandaging a small cut he'd gotten on his arm from one of Kakashi's kunai, but the elder male didn't miss the fact the boy's lips were singed. So, he still needed some help with controlling his lightning chakra then? Good, that was his speciality.

"Snack?" The boy had flicked open a scroll, releasing a seal with a burst of chakra that'd seen two Onigiri pop into existence. Kakashi happily accepted, waiting until the boy looked down before he popped the rice treat into his mouth. It was good, evidently not Jiraiya's work, but didn't hold the store bought taste. So the boy could cook as well? It was starting to look a little better now, he'd even have a skilled cook when they went out on missions. Maybe he hadn't got such a bad deal out of this after all?

"Eh! Kakashi-sensei?! What are you doing here?!" So Naruto was the first to arrive.

This should be fun.

* * *

><p>Sakura Haruno was not having a good day. Oh, it'd started off nice, that much could be said about it. She'd awoken at half-seven in the morning, since three days ago Team Seven had come to the conclusion they could arrive at the training grounds by nine o'clock instead of the seven that Kakashi-sensei said and actually never turned up for. Which meant she got an extra hour and a half of beauty sleep, instead of stumbling awake and six in the morning.<p>

She took a long hot shower, brushed her pink as a rose hair until it was silky smooth, before tying her headband atop her head, holding her bangs back from her face. That way attention was drawn to her pretty green eyes.

Hell, she'd even allowed herself a full grapefruit for breakfast instead of the usual half.

She'd worked hard on that D-rank yesterday, she deserved it. An extra half a grapefruit wouldn't put much on her slim figure, not enough for Sasuke-kun to notice. She'd squealed a little at the thought of her beloved, shooting out the door and heading off to the training grounds. At that point in time, her only hope for the day had been that Kakashi wouldn't make them get too sweaty, because there was only so much deodorant could stand against.

.

Instead she found herself strung up by the ankles from a thick tree-branch, Naruto on her left and Sasuke-kun on the other side of Naruto. Because dear lord, Kakashi-sensei had arrived before them.

Forcing back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes in shame, Sakura turned to listen to Naruto-baka's screams, watching as the orange blob that was her team-mate wiggled about furiously. Seeing as their arms were tied behind their back and they'd been roped up by a Jonin, there was no way they were getting down without some help. And speaking of help-

Sakura's eyes flickered curiously over to look at the other boy, the only one their age currently still on the ground. At first glance, she'd thought he related to Kakashi, but now that she looked closer, she could see that wasn't the case. Their hair was both light, but Kakashi-sensei's was more silver, while the boy's was pure white. He also had some strange facial markings, much like that idiot Kiba's, but not the same design. So a clan kid?

And yet when Sakura looked closer at his face, all other thoughts flew out of the window. He was almost as pretty as Sasuke-kun! And his eyes were green like hers, only better. They sparkled, twinkling with some kind of pleasant humour. He wasn't Sasuke-kun, her future husband, of course, no one was, but Sakura could appreciate a cute boy when she saw one. The only question was-

"Why is he here!?" That one.

Naruto-baka had voice what both of them, and probably Sasuke-kun as well, was thinking. Why was the other boy here? He didn't look older than them, hell, he was barely taller than Naruto.

"Maa, if you'd turned up to briefing you'd know that. And yet not only did my cute little Genin fail to turn up, but they were beaten here by their new comrade and their precious sensei." To her disgust, Kakashi-sensei actually looked like he was pouting.

Naruto and Sasuke both looked offended by their sensei's words, but they were true. Shame settled upon her shoulders like a heavy weight, and Sakura was sure head head would have been between them like a kicked puppy, had she not been hanging upside down as she was.

"So we'll skip the briefing now and you can fly blind," Kakashi-sensei mused, clapping his hands together like he'd just come up with the most brilliant idea ever. Great, so they had no idea why this boy was here, what they were suppose to do with him or how long he was going to be around. She knew Kakashi-sensei was just trying to teach them a lesson, that not turning up to get information on a mission was the most dangerous thing they could do. But it still stung regardless. Lesson learnt sensei, lesson learnt.

"What?!" Apparently that wasn't the case for Naruto.

"Shut up Naruto-baka!" She'd have smacked him if she had a hand free. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

"So my new favourite," Kakashi-sensei patted the white haired boy on the shoulder, who seemed startled at the contact, tensing for a second before looking up at the man, "meet Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura, from right to left."

And at long last, their sensei freed them, but left them to get their hands out of their current trap.

"Who the hell are you?!" Naruto-baka was unsurprisingly the first to free himself, no doubt having experience from all the times he'd been caught after a prank. The boy blinked again before shrugging slightly, stepping forwards and then bowing.

Wow, polite.

She'd almost forgotten what that felt like considering Naruto was so uncivilized and Sasuke-kun above such pleasantries. And Kakashi... Well, he didn't need an explanation.

"Rakurai, Chũnin and at your service." Wait, Chũnin?

Sasuke-kun's head had snapped up to look at the boy from where he was working his own bonds, staring at the boy.

"Chũnin?"

"What?! But you can't be any older than us?!"

Once again, the boy, Rakurai, seemed both confused and amused at the same time, stepping back and folding his arms across his chest.

"I'm twelve, born last day of July." He was younger than Sasuke-kun! And already a Chũnin?

"So you have to be a really good ninja," Sakura tried, hoping that neither of her team-mates would ruin what could quite possibly be a new friend. Maybe he'd give her a way to become a better ninja quicker than Kakashi could! Then she would really impress Sasuke-kun!

Rakurai seemed somewhat uncomfortable at being the centre of attention, rubbing nervously at his bangs, flattening them against his forehead and hiding the scar she had barely caught a glimpse of.

"I'm okay I guess. But Kakashi-sempai was a Chũnin when he was six, so it's not that impressive." Wait, what?

She could hear Naruto yell his own disbelief somewhere outside of her head, but Sakura was still trying to accept what information she'd just been told. Her lazy sensei, had been a Chũnin at six? But she'd barely even started the academy then!

"Well, enough chatting. It's time for your punishment!"

At the smiling curve of Kakashi-sensei's eye, Sakura knew she wasn't going to like this. Not one bit.

* * *

><p><strong>So, apparently, expectations are running high for this fanfiction. Which leaves me with no pressure on my shoulders. Oh no, not at all. I only hope I can live up to what you want with this. I've had a lot of comments about Tsunade finding out about this, and I must say I really look forwards to writing that. <strong>

**As for pairings, I haven't even considered it yet. There'll be the odd crush or two on Rakurai, because I like messing with him, but I've not thought about anything serious, and probably won't for a while. **

**So, some POV from Harry, Kakashi and Sakura. Kakashi's is the only one I'm iffy about, it's been a long while since I wrote about our favourite sensei, so hopefully it'll improve over time. And I hope I got Sakura right as well. I don't bash, but she is in that stage of fangirl-ness, and I needed to capture that. **

**Thoughts? Feelings? Anything in particular you're looking forwards to seeing?**

**.**

**Wondering how to start the next chapter,**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	3. Were You Expecting Anything Less

**The Biggest Toad in the Puddle**

_x _

**Chapter 2  
><strong>_Were You Expecting Anything Less_

"He's good, too good. I've almost accepted the fact that he has Uzumaki blood on his mother's side, there's no other way he could be so good at seals so quick. It takes a special kind of brain, and a special kind of mindset which has to develop over time, to get the results that he does!" Sinking back in his seat up to table, Jiraiya stuffed a mouthful of perfectly cooked meat between his lips and almost groaned with appreciation.

He'd been blessed.

His adorable little son was the best cook he'd ever come across. He didn't know what he'd done right to get such a good little brat, but he wasn't going to change his behaviour if this was the kind of luck he was getting. Bring on the ladies!

Sat across from him, Kakashi -and there was another little brat that'd grown up well in the end, he was after all, a fan of his work – paused in his note taking, looking up at the older ninja with a raised eyebrow. Well, Jiraiya assumed he'd raised an eyebrow, it was hard to tell when you could only see a little patch of face.

"So how'd it go?"

"Well. I think it's the start of a trio of beautiful friendships."

"What Kakashi-sempai means is he brewed the growing resentment between the Genin and me by all but running them into the ground while I got to practice more lightning chakra." Rakurai dropped into his seat, presenting his final dish for their dinner, some pot of mixed vegetables with eggplant in, judging by how fast Kakashi descended upon the bowl. Most ninja never learnt how to cook real food, stopping once they knew how to skin and roast a rabbit out in the wilderness. So there came a point in every ninja's life when they came to appreciate a real, home cooked dinner.

Jiraiya had hit this stage pretty early in life, but the past seven years was the first time he'd been fully satisfied with it. Maybe leaving the kid in the village was a bad idea? He could always bond with other brats his age later on in life... No, he needed to go look into those whispers on 'Akatsuki', and that was far too dangerous to bring Rakurai along for, no matter how good his cooking was.

"So no new friends yet?"

Rakurai deflated, head dropping to rest in one hand, elbow propped up on the table.

"No, not yet." He stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth in a dejected manner, and Jiraiya looked back to Kakashi for answers. The other Jonin just shrugged though and Jiraiya blatantly remembered the other man had struggled to form friendships too.

Okay, no advice from that corner then. And Jiraiya... Well, Jiraiya's best friend had betrayed them all, so he clearly wasn't the one to explain this friendship lark either.

Damn, they were a sorry lot, weren't they?

"Aww, don't worry, you'll get there eventually! And you'll always have my tips for helping with the ladies!"

A sharp sting across his cheekbone let Jiraiya know his son was embarrassed by the words more so than the red blush spreading across the boy's cheeks. Kakashi's eye had raised at the red welt that was no doubt on his face, hell, it'd taken Jiraiya a while to realize that half of Rakurai's arsenal was invisible to witness. The one that strung you up in mid-air by the ankles was his personal favourite, alongside the one that changed you into a toad. He'd panicked the first time Rakurai used that on him, but thankfully transforming a person into something else seemed to take a lot out of the boy. Unfortunately, this stinging attack did not.

"I don't need your tips," Rakurai grumbled, folding his arms across his chest and pushing his plate into the center of the table. They had a running deal, Rakurai cooked and Jiraiya washed up. Everyone was happy. "I'm trying to make myself some friends, not make you a grandfather."

Jiraiya choked a bit on his drink, Kakashi giving a low chuckle across the table.

"Yeah, wait until I'm dead for that kid," Jiraiya ignored Rakurai's frown at the casual way he referred to his own death, ploughing on regardless, "looking after you was enough, and you came pretty much self sufficient."

There wasn't any arguing it. Rakurai was a genius. Had been unusually independent as a child, he could look after himself perfectly ell, especially with that bloodline of his.

That was the reason Jiraiya knew he was Chũnin material, Rakurai had a good head on his shoulders and looked out for everyone he considered under his wing. Be it making sure Jiraiya himself got back to bed after a drunken night collecting information, or catching a few rabbits for a starving family near where they were staying. He was a genuinely good kid, pure-hearted, but ruthless the second he needed to be. He was a protector, and Jiraiya couldn't have asked for anything more regarding his son.

Well, aside from getting the boy to do some 'research' with him, that was.

"Mmm, well I think I'm going to have the kids scrap with you after lunch tomorrow Rakurai," Kakashi finally decided, drumming his fingers against the wooden worktop of the table, "just to show them the difference between Genin and Chũnin. They need to realize there's kids out there that are younger than them, but can be as strong as I am."

Rakurai nodded, standing up from his seat and stretching his arms up and above his head.

"But until then report to training ground ten, you'll be running a D-rank with another team in the morning."

Laughing at the repulsed look on Rakurai's face, Jiraiya shooed the boy off, watching the little head of white hair disappear up the stairs before he turned back to Kakashi, who instantly became more serious as the mood changed in the air.

"His sealing is that good?"

"Good enough to suppress the Kyuubi before it hits a full tail I think." He was pretty confident of that as well.

He hadn't been joking when he said he was half convinced that Rakurai had some Uzumaki blood in him. The kid had been studying seals the second he realized how great their applications could be. Jiraiya was proud, and a little scared at how quickly the boy had taken to them. Just like another fair-haired student he'd taught the same topic to. He didn't want to see the same fate befall his real son, as it had the man he'd almost considered his own.

"That's impressive," Kakashi murmured lowly, running a hand through his wild grey hair.

"He's my kid. Were you expecting anything less? But I need you to keep an eye on him. With that bloodline limit, well, there's a hell of a lot he can do with it. If anyone knew the extent of it, he'll be as big of a target as the Uchiha boy. He's got this jutsu that let's him look into your mind like its a book laid bare before him, or rip it apart for answers. And he only needs eye contact for it. I've already told him not to go snooping in Naruto's head, but I figured it'd be best to warn you now."

"Understood."

* * *

><p>At the tender age of three, Ino Yamanaka had high expectations when it came to ninja. She'd fully expected to go into the family business and be taking down the bad guys alongside her dad. At the age of six, she'd been expecting to be a bad-ass ninja on her own, ready to learn anything and everything when she started the academy. At ten, she'd fallen into the daydream of battling enemy ninja alongside her husband to be, Sasuke Uchiha, while Forehead watched on from the sidelines.<p>

However, it was at the age of twelve that Ino Yamanaka learnt what it really meant to be a ninja. Which could basically be summed up as so; motivate the lazy bum and eats-a-lot so that they can motivate the smoke monkey into actually teaching them something.

It was exhausting work. This team would have sunk already without her, with Shikamaru and Asuma ignoring the rest of the world as the former trumps the later at the board game of the day, whilst Choji ate his way to what was sure to be a large cardio-vascular problem.

No, Team Ten was lucky to have her, that much was evident. It seemed like it would forever be a woman's job to kick the men into gear, that much was obvious.

Sighing, she threw the wayward strands of her long blonde hair over her shoulder, walking up the dirt path to training ground ten.

And then stopped.

There was already someone there, even though she was always, always the first to arrive. And he most certainly wasn't a member of her team. White hair that was fell in spiky bangs around his face, eyes closed and body in a meditation style position. She knew from her father that it was a bad idea to sneak up on someone mediating, mainly because she'd tried doing so an almost been impaled on a kunai for her efforts. So she made extra sure to step on a twig, gaze still on the rather pleasant looking boy.

His eyes snapped open, a startling green that'd have Forehead beat for sure and the boy was on his feet in an instance.

"Are you a member of Team Ten?" He asked, cocking his head to a side curiously and looking all around cute. Ino smirked, making her way forwards and grinning at the boy. Yeah, he was definitely good-looking, though so obviously different from Sasuke-kun.

"And if I am?"

The boy held out his hand, smiling pleasantly as his other appendage flattened the bangs of his hair, pressing them down to his forehead.

"In that case I'd introduce myself. I'm Rakurai, Kakashi-sempai assigned me to join Team Ten for the duration of the morning." Kakashi Hatake? Wasn't that Forehead's sensei?

Looks like she'd be able to get some snooping done on Sasuke-kun's team. But why had they got another Genin assigned to them? Surely Forehead and the Dead-last weren't that hopeless, were they?

"Ino Yamanaka," Ino finally answered, confidently placing her hand in Rakurai's.

And that confidence was shattered when the boy bent over her hand and pressed his lips against her knuckles. Oh my!

"A pleasure." Holy hell, where had this boy come from and why hadn't she been introduced sooner?

As a soon to be expert on the mind, Ino had little categories for every person she'd ever met, everyone she'd ever analysed. There was Shikamaru with his chronic laziness, Choji with his love for food, even Asuma-sensei and his evident dependence upon cigarettes. She'd already classified Sasuke as her Dark Prince, but if that's what the Uchiha was, then this new boy, Rakurai, was evidently Prince Charming. So very different in both appearance and personality. But both just as pretty as the other. Perhaps she might what to re-evaluate her idea of becoming Mrs Uchiha?

Never-mind, she'd think on that later tonight, she wanted to find out how Forehead's team was doing. The light blush that'd crossed her cheeks now firmly under control, Ino forced herself to focus.

"We can run through some katas while we wait for Asuma-sensei. You have to tell me how For- Sakura's team is doing."

.

By the time that the rest of her team had turned up, conversation had turned from how Forehead's team was doing -abysmal on the teamwork, and they didn't seem skilled to Rakurai either- onto a topic Ino could happily contribute to. Childhood stories.

She'd found out that Rakurai had grown up outside of the village, travelling with his father who had taught him everything he knew, and there was still more for Rakurai to learn. And it was as she was telling the boy all about how their team assignments had come about that Ino came to the startling realization that she actually liked this boy.

Not in a, 'I have a massive crush on you, let's get married so I can pop out ten of your babies' liking, but more of a 'you're actually quite cool, let's hang around and go psychoanalyse people' kind of way. She liked Rakurai as a friend, he was intelligent and actually had experience with other people's minds as well, with a jutsu he was told resembled a Yamanaka family technique in it's basest forms.

Daddy would certainly want to met him to get a handle on the boy's technique, but even then Ino figured she wouldn't mind training with him again. He seemed happy enough to correct her Taijutsu, which she realized he was actually quite good at, even better than Sasuke-kun. His father had clearly taught him well.

Speaking of, who was his father? Few ninja's stayed out of the village on long term missions, and while a son might help with a cover story, teaching that son the ways of ninja on the road was risky business. Which meant Rakurai's dad was pretty powerful, probably Jonin.

And he'd done a good job, for Rakurai was the politest boy Ino had ever met, so much better than her three slob team-mates. Speaking of which-

"Finally! I've been waiting for ages!" Well, not really. It'd only been quarter of an hour, like usual, waiting for them to turn up. But it'd flown quickly while she spoke with Rakurai, they'd got along so well. She could genuinely call him a friend, perhaps.

"Sarutobi-san?" Rakurai had relaxed from his previous kata, standing to attention before her sensei. Asuma cringed at the name, taking a long drag from the small stub that was his latest cigarette before he offered a nod.

"Just Asuma kid." Then sensei seemed to pause, taking a better look at Rakurai before he actually inhaled the little stub.

"Asuma-sensei!" Choji began slapping their sensei across the back, and Ino watched in amusement as the man began coughing up those cursed death sticks. She'd told him they'd led him to an early grave. Sure she'd been referring to the smoke fumes and not actually swallowing the thing, but hey-ho, her point was still proven.

After a minute of hacking away, Asuma seemed to finally clear his air-ways, dark eyes narrowing as he looked over Rakurai again, who had folded his arms and proceeded to look somewhat smug, one eyebrow raised.

"A problem?"

"Yeah, I was expecting a miniature of your father. How the hell are you so polite?" Okay, so Rakurai's father was clearly one of the more eccentric figures of their village. That narrowed down the list quite a bit.

"Surprise," Rakurai offered dryly before dropping into another bow.

"Rakurai at your service. Kakashi-sempai assigned me to your team for the morning."

"So he did. This is Shikamaru and Choji. You already met Ino I take it?"

Rakurai nodded, pocketing his hands and offering a lazy smile up as he did so.

"We were just practising some katas."

"Right. And to think I panicked when I heard Jiraiya had a kid." Jiraiya, Jiraiya, where had she heard that name before?

Ino tapped a delicate finger against her lip, noticing he sudden gleam in Shikamaru's eyes. Ah, so her team-mate recognised it too.

"Jiraiya of the Sannin had a kid?" Sannin?!

"No way!" Ino rounded on Rakurai, who held his hands up, though she was unsure if it was a true surrender or if he was just trying to create a better opening on the off chance he needed to defend himself.

"Nice to meet you," Rakurai offered Shikamaru, who just nodded back, a frown upon his face once again. Asuma seemed to be pleased enough with their interactions, for he clapped his hands together with a gleeful smile upon his face.

"Well then, D-rank time!"

.

Pleased as punch. That's what Ino was. D-ranks went by so much quicker when she didn't have to yell at Shikamaru and Choji to get the work done. Instead she, and surprisingly enough her two team-mates and even her sensei, seemed content to listen to Rakurai's stories as they went about pulling the weeds from the garden of some noble woman. He told them all about the time that he'd met his father's summons, when two of them had taken down bandits on the road. His life had been so much adventure, he'd learnt so much more than what they had at the academy because he had the experience behind it, he'd put all the knowledge he'd learnt to good use.

"So why did you come back now?"

Rakurai looked up from the weed he'd just torn out of the ground, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead. His face was covered in dirt, much like the rest of him, but he didn't seem bothered at all by it. Then again, the kid had been slung constantly into the mud by toads since he was a toddler.

"Dad got a big lead on something regarding his spy network, and it's too dangerous to bring me along. He thought I'd be better off here making so bonds with the Genin that I could end up leading on missions."

"Wait, I thought leading was a Chũnin thing?"

At her question, Shikamaru gave her a look as if she'd just said something monumentally stupid, something that even the Dead-last would have probably have been able to figure out. As it was as obvious as the sky was blue, the grass green and Choji hungry.

"Erm, I am a Chũnin," Rakurai finished, rubbing nervously at his forehead and once again flattening his bangs. That seemed to be his default response to nerves, Ino noticed, possibly due to the lightning bolt shaped scar that rested atop his brow.

"You're a Chũnin already?!"

Asuma just chuckled behind them, no doubt puffing away on another cigarette, more than happy to sit back and smoke until they were finished. Speaking of which, they were nearly done.

"You haven't seen much of Konoha then, if you've been on the road for so long. So you'll have to come with us to the BBQ place for lunch! No buts, you're coming."

Rakurai just blinked owlishly back at her, inspecting the rest of her team to check if it was okay for him to come along before he offered up a small smile.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

* * *

><p>Hands in pockets and chewing on the leftover meat that'd been presented to him on a skewer, Harry smiled to himself as he approached training grounds three.<p>

He liked Team Ten, there was a great comradeliness to the trio of Genin, and their sensei seemed to like them too. They were a closely knit bunch, even if their personalities bashed against one another often. Watching Ino yell at her two team-mates was like witnessing a 'you must study' argument between Ron and Hermione.

But Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were different people to Ron and Hermione, they'd face different challenges and grow in different ways than what his old friends had done. That didn't mean he disliked them.

On the contrary, he was quite fond of Team Ten. They worked well together, were able to put their differences aside in order to best whatever obstacle they faced. Which was good, because Team Seven on the other hand.

Harry frowned as he thought on the other team, his more permanent team. It was like pitting a dragon, basilisk and a nundu into the same enclosure and poking the lot of them with a stick. They were at each other throats constantly, and they were about as dangerous as each other, though the three Genin wouldn't worry Harry as much to go against as it would had he been forced to fight those three magical creatures.

No, he was more worried about the damage those three could cause in regards to each other and their team as a whole. It seemed like the Hokage, who was ultimately in charge of team assignments regarding clan children, had just thrown the three together and stepped back to watching the fireworks go off. It was rather damning, and though Kakashi was obviously trying to instil an urge to work as a team, it didn't seem to be working.

So Harry was going to take the challenge on. He'd have these three Genin straightened out upon pain of death, and come the next Chũnin exams, they would be a well oiled machine. He'd be not allow it to go any other way.

"Ah! Rakurai-chan!"

That was, if he could get Kakashi to stop pushing them to hate him more.

Taking another bite of the meat upon his last stick, Harry felt somewhat upset he was nearly finished with the delicious meal. Ino had been right, that meal had been great. Even if he'd had to push her into eating a little more than she usually did, reciting the fact most men liked women with curves, so that they didn't seem like they' break in half if they were touched. To trust him, because his father made a living off such facts.

Ino, having obviously realized just what he was talking about, had looked half disgusted, half accepting. She'd still eaten as much meat as he did in the end though, so it was a step forwards in any case.

"Kakashi-sempai." That was another man Harry was coming to like. He was eccentric as Harry's new father, but they were pretty similar deep down. Protectors, of their village and their comrades.

According to Jiraiya, Kakashi held the record in ANBU for least team-mates dying on the missions he headed. Harry could respect a man who did everything in his power to keep the people who relied on him safe. It was an understanding they both shared, and Harry was pleased to see the Leaf Village had a good many ninja with this attitude. Already it was better than Magical Britain, who'd turn on you at the drop of a hat. The bonds here that people shared, it was brilliant. He felt privileged to be a part of this.

Tearing off the last chunk of meat, Harry threw the biodegradable skewer into the undergrowth.

"D-rank mission with team ten completed, followed by team bonding session over food... You should probably try that," Harry tacked dryly on the end, the two of them turning to look at the trio of Genin who still hadn't noticed his arrival, instead focused on winning the last tomato that no one really knew who it had belonged to.

Sasuke seemed to want it because he liked tomatoes, Naruto wanted it because Sasuke wanted it, and Sakura wanted it to give to Sasuke. It'd almost fallen into an outright brawl, with Sakura stood off to a side as the boy's came to blows, neither noticing the now squashed source of their squabble.

Beside him, Kakashi seemed to visible deflate, as if he'd hoped they be able to play nice for just ten minutes while he left them on their own. Too bad.

"I thought they were suppose to be fighting me instead of each other?" Harry asked, making sure his voice carried loud enough to reach the trio of Genin.

They instantly stopped fighting, turning to look at the two of them as if they'd just been gravely insulted. Kakashi gave a chuckled beside him, clearly retreating to sit on an overhanging tree-branch.

"Well, let's see what you've got then."

* * *

><p>This was ridiculous! Naruto let another snarl tear through his throat. Sasuke had all but ordered that Sakura and him stay out of his way, because he could obviously take down the white haired kid, no problem. Sasuke had now dashed forwards to engaged the other boy who was supposedly a Chũnin. He didn't look like a Chũnin. Naruto hated to admit it, but Sasuke was good, he was probably gonna thump this pretender into the ground and then send him back home to go and lick his wounds. The kid hadn't even been in the academy, Naruto would remember hair as strange as that.<p>

"Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto could barely believe his eyes. The kid had moved so fast! He'd ducked under Sasuke high kick, planting his own in the Uchiha's stomach and sending his soaring across the clearing.

"Next," the boy snapped, looking back over at the two of them.

Somewhere in the trees, Kakashi-sensei seemed to give a dejected sigh, as if he'd actually expected Sasuke's kick to hit, and was somewhat disappointed that it hadn't. Or he was disappointed about something else, Naruto wasn't sure.

"You're going down!" Summoning a good twenty clones, he didn't want to beat the boy too badly, but this Rakurai kid had just kicked the teme away as he was nothing. Twenty was a good solid number.

Or so Naruto through.

The other boy was tearing through his clones, each strike a would have killed had it not been a clone, he'd not even given Naruto a chance to order a charge. And the clones, much like he, panicked. They tried to strike out, reaching with grabby hands or swiping with kunai in hopes of landing a hit on the Chũnin. And he could see the boy was a Chũnin now.

But he was just too bloody fast! Naruto knew ninja moved fast, but he hadn't expected this!

There was a hand around his ankle all of a sudden and Naruto felt his feet tugged out from under him, his body forced into a spin before he was suddenly sailing through the air, crashing into the river nearby with a splash.

Damn it, it was the Bell Test all over again! No way, that was not happening again, he would not lose again! Last time he hadn't a plan, so he needed a plan. Last time they'd all gone against Kakashi-sensei and each time they had failed because they'd been on their own! They needed to team up! There was the answer!

Then Naruto just needed to buy some time to get to both his team-mates. Summoning up three clones, he leapt out the water with them.

And then stopped dead.

The white haired bastard had Sakura-chan knelt before him with a kunai to her neck, other hand in her long hair. Sasuke was stood before him, having obviously frozen for the same reason that Naruto had.

"If I was an enemy ninja, you'd all be dead right now." Rakurai pushed Sakura was from him, nose twisting in obvious annoyance.

"We wouldn't all be dead!" Naruto snarled back. So what if he was a Chũnin! That didn't mean he could put them all down like this! That wasn't fair!

"Rakurai-chan is right. You're lucky that he kicked you away Sasuke, instead of burying a kunai in your chest. And Naruto, I'm pretty sure he took out all your clones with killing blows. It wouldn't have been hard for him to do the same to you. And Sakura, you actually have to try with training," Kakashi-sensei was back on the ground now, leaning against a tree with that stupid book out, "otherwise you might as well just quit while you still have all your limbs. Start again." Sensei wasn't being serious, was he?

Naruto thought back on the fight, trying to remember everything that he'd seen. Yeah, it seemed like Rakurai could have stabbed Sasuke pretty easy with how quick he moved, and Naruto felt himself pale a bit when he remembered every clone popping from a kunai to the neck or chest. The rudimentary vitals spots, the ones they were taught from the very start to protect, and he'd failed.

"How are you so good!?" Naruto cried, watching as the bright green eyes snapped over to look at him.

Rakurai seemed to think on the question for a bit, before shrugging.

"Dad says I was always a smart kid, I was using chakra before I turned three, my bloodline before that. But that's just talent. I got 'so good', as you put it, because I have people I want to protect. I want to get strong enough that if my family, if my friends and in danger, that I can protect them. And I can only do that if I'm the best. So I train. That's all there is to it."

So the other boy was like Sasuke then. He was a genius, even better than Sasuke because he was three years old when he started using chakra! Naruto was still struggling with sentences then! But he'd worked at it too, he'd trained to get even better than what he'd been before... So wasn't that kinda like him too? Naruto wasn't too sure, but he was going to find out.

Maybe Rakurai wasn't all that bad, even if he was stupidly smug at the moment.

"All right then, here I come!"

.

They kept at it for several hours, the three of them against the white haired Chũnin and they still hadn't beaten him. Between correcting Naruto's flaws, commenting on Sakura-chan's lack of endurance and Sasuke-teme's tendency to forget his team-mates existed, Rakurai still slipped seamlessly between them.

But they were getting better. They got further and further away from losing all the time to the point where they might actually be getting a chance at taking him down! Naruto was almost giddy with the idea, even as his stomach growled for food. And he'd actually thought they'd managed it today.

Until their stupid baka of a sensei opened his mouth.

"Maa, I think it's time you stepped it up Rakurai-chan." And then he vanished.

Literally vanished.

He was in front of them one moment, with Sasuke coming at him from the left and with Naruto aiming a punch from the right. Naruto could see the green eyes twinkling with amusement. And then he was looking at Sasuke's surprised face before the two of them slammed into each other.

Sakura, who'd been ready to throw a kunai the second their target tried to step out of their physical attack, let out a squeak of surprise, but Naruto was too busy trying to untangle himself from the heap of ninja he'd landed in.

"What the hell, where is he!" Naruto's head whipped back and forth, trying to spot the Chũnin. He'd blinked out of existence, it was as if he'd never been there at all.

Naruto let out a terrified shriek as something tripped him, dropping him back onto Sasuke, who seemed too winded to get up.

"I'm stood right next to you, no need to shout." There was his voice, but where?

Naruto screamed in terror as the Chũnin silently popped back into existence beside him.

"H-How did you do that?"

"I think that's enough for the day," Kakashi-sensei mused, pulling both Naruto and Sasuke to their feet.

Naruto huffed, brushing the dirt off the seat of his pants and grimacing over how close he'd been to Sasuke-teme again. At least he'd not ended up kissing him again. Ack, brain bleach, brain bleach!

Sasuke was now eyeing the white haired Chũnin wearily, as if he was suddenly unsure of what to make of this new revelation. But Naruto knew he needed to learn it. Invisibility was like, the coolest thing ever!

"Is that your bloodline?" Sasuke-teme asked once he'd got his breath back, watching as Rakurai nodded, folding his arms across his chest. Wait bloodline? Wasn't that those really cool jutsus that you could only learn if you were in the same family?! That sucked!

"I have a different kind of energy as well as chakra, obviously it does lots of different stuff. One of those things you just saw. Or not saw as the case was." Rakurai ran a hand through his hair, offering a tired grin as he did so.

"Does anyone wanna come over for dinner tonight? It's the first night my Dad's out of town and I'm on my own."

"No." Sasuke-teme had turned on heel, obviously taking this as a dismal, waking out of the training grounds as he did so.

As with every time they'd finished up for the day, Sakura went tearing after the teme, not even sparing the three of them a backwards glance.

"Maa, I would, but I've got a progress report to hand in-"

"Which is several days late?" Rakurai finished off with a raised brow, their sensei grinning unrepentantly. Or at least, Naruto assumed he was grinning under that weird mask.

"Am I still allowed to come?" Naruto asked, shuffling about on his feet nervously. He'd never been invited over to someone's house before, wasn't that what friends did? Does this mean that Rakurai wanted to be friends with him?

"Why wouldn't you be? I hope you like Sukiyaki."

* * *

><p><strong>Scary chapter is scarily big. Well, this chapter just grew and grew. I was only aiming for 4,000 words max, but it didn't want to stop. It just kept going and going until it was done and well past my estimation.<strong>

**So, hey, some Ino. I tried to go with the idea of a boy mad girl, who's sure she'll have a crush on the new boy but he turns out to be kinda cool and she figures he's better friend material. At least, that's her current mindset. And some serious Harry. He's made his decision, he's going to whip team seven into shape or die trying. If he can. I'm not sure if the whole MoD thing would save him from a death blow here, let's see how this story just flows, shall we?**

**Regarding who knows about Harry, only the Jonin know his father. And Jiraiya's kept him a secret from everyone but the Hokage till now. So we still have Tsunade and Jiraiya's reactions to look forwards to.**

**Can Harry still speak Parseltongue? Hell yes he can. But that's for later, promise.**

**.**

**Next Chapter; _Dinner With A Freind_, in which Harry finds himself with a dinner guest and Naruto finds his first possible friend knows a hell of a lot more than he should.  
><strong>I don't think this'll be up until Monday at the earliest due to Grandparents visiting and thus, little laptop time. Ciao!

**.**

**Trying to figure out how to write nervous Naruto,**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	4. Dinner With A Friend

**The Biggest Toad in the Puddle**

_x _

**Chapter 3  
><strong>_Dinner With A Friend_

Harry walked through the streets of Konoha with his hands in pockets, looking relaxed and at eased. But his eyes noticed everything. Every curious glance that was sent towards him, every furious scowl that his blond companion received.

It was evident why, the mutterings of 'demon brat' were as obvious as acid in the eye. It was a wonder they'd managed to keep their Jinchuriki a secret from everyone other nation, because it would only take a traveller with half a brain to mention, 'hey, they were calling this kid a demon brat, wonder why', and then any enemy ninja would know it was Naruto they needed to squirrel away. Dear lord, the stupidity of some people never ceased to amaze him.

His new team-mate didn't seemed to hear them, even though Harry knew otherwise. He remembered walking through the halls of Hogwarts after the Parselmouth incident, the suspicious eyes, the hatred of the Hufflepuffs who thought he actually had it in him to attack someone over their blood, over their family. They never seemed to realize that Harry would give up everything he had, everything he was to have a family, a real family, be they muggle or wizard. He knew the pressure of being an orphan, of having no one but people still expected you to carry on and do your best.

He'd been lucky in this life.

While his mother didn't want him, Jiraiya had come through for him. Jiraiya had given him the paternal love he'd always wanted, the full buffet after the taste he'd gotten from Sirius. He might have been over a hundred years old, but that didn't change the fact he would forever be that orphaned kid longing for the unconditional love of a parent. He couldn't give that to Naruto obviously, but there was nothing stopping him from becoming a brother like figure. He'd be furious with himself if he didn't try, and he was going to try his damn hardest to be there for this kid. Because looking around at the people in the streets, he needed it.

"So when's your birthday Naruto?"

Blue eyes turned to get a better look at him and Harry just offered a smile back, clocking the especially ferocious look from a book store owner. He made sure to memorise his face.

"Huh?"

"Your birthday, come on kid, it's a number and a month."

"Don't call me a kid! We're the same age!"

"Are we?"

Naruto blushed slightly beside him, one nervous hand rubbing at the back of his neck. Harry was startled by that movement, it had always been Jiraiya's thing to him. To see it on someone else was a bit jarring. Regardless, he pressed on.

"Well?"

"October tenth."

"I'll make a note of it seeing as we've missed it."

Blue eyes locked on him somewhat suspiciously but Harry ignored it. He remembered the trust issues, he remembered the caution he'd had when dealing with Hagrid and Ron, remembered desperately wanting to believe in their actions and words but knowing better than to leap blindly at something. Let down too many times. The two of them were astonishingly alike, that much was clear. Even if he didn't quite have the 'life experience' in this new world to be able to relate to Naruto. Not without being found out that was.

Didn't mean he couldn't understand the kid though.

"We need to go right," Harry grabbed a fist full of orange jumpsuit, tugging Naruto off the main street and along the side, having already worked out the quickest route home. Normally he'd cut the path short by taking the rooftops, but Naruto and the rest of his team didn't know the tree-walking chakra exercise right now Kakashi had said, and Harry doubted Naruto'd let himself be piggy-back across the village. At least, not yet. Maybe when their friendship was more solid. Well, it was something to look forwards to.

.

Pausing in front of the door, Harry raised a brow at the note tagged to the wood via kunai. With a quick tug, the weapon was free and the note in hand, a blond head looking over his shoulder curiously. It was a little letter from Jiraiya, telling him to keep his eyes open and ears to the ground, because he was his secondary link to Konoha now, after the Hokage of course. And people tended to be a bit more loose lipped with the gossip around Genins than they were around the Hokage.

Harry didn't doubt that his father had other contacts here, but he also knew the man was training him up to eventually take over as spy-master. Or at least, that's what he was hoping for. So he'd have to take this task seriously.

"Just dad saying goodbye," Harry mused, sliding the door open and kicking his shoes off as he went in. The cool wood of the floorboards met his soles and Harry let out a pleased sigh.

On the road with Jiraiya, there hadn't really been a home. Home was where Jiraiya was. But home now- Home was a two story house with his room in the converted attic. It was the perfect not-so-little hideaway, with a rope acting as the only way up, no stairs. It appealed to the hidden child within him, the one that'd never really had a hideaway before. He'd enchanted the roof so that when the lights were off, it'd look just like the Great-Hall did, showing all the night sky or the sunshine, depending on the time. It'd taken him all of last night to complete, and he'd been bone tired in morning, but it'd been worth it. He was rather looking forwards to showing Naruto, the boy would no doubt marvel over it. But first- His stomach growled.

Food first. Showing off second.

"Come on then, shoes off at the door," Harry explained, snapping his fingers twice. Naruto had frozen by the entrance, looking uncomfortably hesitant when it came to the very idea of entering his home. Harry couldn't see why, but remembered how awkward he'd been at the Burrow, how he'd not wanted to touch anything and throw off the family vibe. There really was no family vibe to throw off in here though. There wasn't many homely touches -something Harry planned to change- even though it looked like Jiraiya had left almost all their scrolls behind. He'd clearly been halfway through working on a seal before deciding it was time to leave, because there was paper everywhere in the lounge, all in Jiraiya's signature chicken-scratch. Like father like son it appeared.

"What's all that?" Naruto asked, peeking at the written work that Harry doubted the boy understood. It'd taken Harry a while to get the lingo of sealing down, but once he'd managed it, he'd taken to the art like a pig to mud. It was as wild and untameable as Harry's past life, so he fit right into it.

"Dad's research probably, but knowing him they'll be instructions for me somewhere in that madness. Anyway, dinner first. I made more than I probably should have done before I left this morning, I was under the impression the entire team would come for some reason. Regardless, I'll just heat it all up. I'm sure we'll finish it between us."

Naruto nodded in agreement, a shy smile breaking out across his face. Harry had never met someone so outgoing before, though Ginny came close; it was good to see that under all that brash behaviour he was just another kid looking for acceptance. It'd make it easier to get through his thick skull that he was being genuine with his offer of friendship.

"How long have you been in the village?" Naruto asked, looking around the house as Harry led him to the kitchen.

"This is my third day actually. My first without my Dad though, he's gone back to work now."

Naruto nodded, as if he completely understood, and then stopped. Harry followed the blond's gaze, and then paused himself, face falling somewhere between a scowl of annoyance and a 'I feel so loved' grin.

A picture had been propped up on the table, framed and about twice the size of Harry's hand. He was five, and it'd the first time he'd been to Mount Myōboku, the home of his father's toad summons. One of the younger toads had challenged him to a wrestling match, which ,Harry being Harry, he'd accepted. How many other people could say they'd wrestled with a toad? He'd won in the end, but not before he'd gotten slathered with mud. The picture had to have been taken by one of the toads, probably Ma or Pa, but it'd gotten the moment in which Jiraiya had been lifting him from the mud and Harry had just swiped a handful across the older man's face. Both of them were grinning, and now it brought a smile to Harry's face.

Usually the toads wouldn't have let him come visit, as he wasn't a summoner, but Jiraiya had come to ask the elder toad if he could let Harry become a summoner. The elder had looked at him before shaking his head. For Harry was apparently destined for a different contract. They had the rights to him, for whatever reason. Jiraiya had been upset, but Harry had a feeling he knew what animal could claim him. After all, there was a certain species he could converse with in their own tongue, so it didn't surprise him. He just didn't mention it to Jiraiya, having heard the tale of Orochimaru at that point. Snakes? Not good for Jiraiya's mental well being.

"You look really happy," Naruto murmured sadly, bringing Harry back to he present. His blond friend was looking at the picture with longing in his eyes and Harry felt his heart break a bit. Jiraiya had obviously left him the picture to show he cared, and Harry was touched. But he'd rather not have rubbed it in Naruto's face.

"I got lucky with Dad," Harry finally murmured, plucking up the picture and placing it on the kitchen windowsill, so he'd have something to look at when he started on the dishes. A job he'd not done for years. Great to be back.

"My mom didn't want me. She was close to leaving me at the orphanage when luck should have it, Dad was passing through town. He didn't know about me till then, but the woman who gave birth to me happily handed me over. Walked away before Dad said he was even going to take me." Shrugging, Harry pulled the platter of food from the fridge, banging the whole thing in the oven to warm it up.

Naruto was still stood awkwardly, looking after him with a funny expression. They were saved from more awkward conversation by the ding of the oven, Naruto letting out a little cheer that had Harry laughing.

"Someone's hungry."

"I just hope you're as good at cooking as you are Taijutsu," Naruto snapped back, a teasing grin on his lips.

"I'll have you know my father thinks my cooking is better than my Taijutsu, thank you very much." Sticking out his tongue, Harry dumped two plates on the table, one before him and one in front Naruto, before place the platter of food in the centre of the table.

"Well, dig in."

.

"Your Dad's right. You are so good at cooking." Naruto let out a little burp, giggling to himself as he lazily dragged the dishcloth across the last pot.

After polishing off the dinner, which Harry had thought would feed all of team seven if need be, but apparently he'd underestimated Naruto's appetite, the blond had been more than happy to help with the dishes, drying as Harry washed. The white haired boy had promised to put them away at a later date, deciding he'd rather spend a bit more time talking to Naruto. Kakashi had worked them hard that afternoon, well into the evening, and now a dark blanket was covering the sky, leaving thousands of stars to twinkle down upon them. Harry was still floored over how many more stars there were here, when back in England light pollution had seen the vast majority hidden away from their naked eyes.

"I should really get home," Naruto murmured uncertainly, frowning as he looked out the window. It was dark, and even though Harry knew the boy was an adult in the eyes of a village, that still didn't mean he was happy letting the blond wonder through the dark back home. Call it a hero-complex or protective instinct or whatever, but that's just how it was.

"You can bunk here tonight."

"Your Dad won't mind?" It was evident on Naruto's face he desperately wanted to say yes, but was still hesitant to do so. Harry grinned, throwing his arm around Naruto's shoulders and leading the blond out of the kitchen, but not before grabbing a pitcher of juice as he went.

"Nah, he'll just be glad I have a friend. Half my bedroom is mattress, so I've easily got the room to spare."

"I've never had a sleep-over before!" Naruto bounced up and down on his heels, evidently excited at the prospect of staying the night and Harry tried not to let his annoyance damper his smile. Did no one really care for orphans out there? Were they always destined to slip through the cracks?

Harry grit his teeth before stopping, looking up and sending a burst of chakra upwards. The rope dropped down, Naruto startling slightly at the sudden appearance.

"My room's in the loft, you'll see why when you get up there." With a great flourish, Harry gestured for Naruto to shimmy up first, grinning to himself as he recalled his first time seeing the Great Hall. He wondered if Naruto would be as impressed.

Snatching the rope in one hand, Harry wiggled up it, climbing into his room and shutting the hatch with a flick of his foot. The breathy 'wow' that left Naruto's lips let Harry know exactly what he thought of the room. He'd put a lot of work into the place of his first day here, expanding a mattress until it took up half the room and was lowered into the floor. There was a wall of shelves, for all his books and scrolls -mostly scrolls- and another wall was a giant pin-board for all his own notes and ideas. It'd been exactly the kind of room he'd have wanted as a child, entirely his own in both space and design.

"This is awesome, how did you do that with your roof?!"

"My bloodline let's me physically enchant things like that. Bloody useless in battle because it takes too long to set up, several hours. But it's good for stuff like this." Naruto nodded again, eyes still on Harry's beautifully done ceiling. He couldn't blame the boy, Harry was in love with it too.

"I've got some sleeping clothes you can borrow and I'll stick your stuff in the washer, it'll be ready come morning."

"Thank you."

.

Once they were both dressed in pyjamas, teeth brushed and picked out their spots on Harry's stupidly large mattress, Harry swallowed the lump in his throat, hoping to start the topic he'd been nervous about discussing with Naruto. The one he'd been holding back on all day.

"Naruto?"

"Hum?"

"There's another reason I was assigned to your team, aside from the whole need to make friends business."

A blonde head of hair resurfaced from beneath one of the many duvets, bright blue eyes blinking at him in obvious confusion. Taking a deep breath, Harry looked Naruto in the eye to gauge his reaction.

"I'm very proficient in Fūinjutsu... Sealing," Harry tacked on the end upon noticing the confused look on Naruto's face. But it dropped into panic almost as quick as the blood drain from his face.

"You know-"

"Yeah. I don't care by the way. You're the fox the same way a scroll is a kunai, which is not at all. Kunai goes in the scroll, fox goes in the Naruto. You're still just the brat who thinks I cook better than I kick- ompth!" Harry let out a gasp for air as Naruto bodily tackled him, arms wrapping around his back and face buried into his neck.

Harry didn't mention the fact he could feel the wet patches on his skin, instead returning the hug and holding Naruto tightly, rubbing his back when the boy started the shake slightly. This was going better than he'd thought, he'd half expected Naruto to run away or blow up, much like how Harry had when he found out about his prophecy. Well, at least he was going to get through to him here, one down, three members of Team Seven to go. And yes, Kakashi was on his list.

"You really don't care?" Naruto's voice was somewhat muffled by his own skin, but Harry heard the words all the same.

"Would I have made you dinner if I did? You've just got a fuzz-ball renting out your stomach and paying you in chakra."

Naruto gave a somewhat strangled laugh, pulling back from the hug and wiping at his eyes.

"You were put on our team because of me?"

"Because out of all the other ninja, I have the best chance of repressing you should you have a little episode." Or well, the best ninja available.

"Will you teach me?"

"You won't mess about with your seal?" Naruto looked horrified by the very idea, so Harry could say that was a big fat N-O.

"Then I just gotta get permission from my Dad -because he was the one who taught me- and then from the Hokage because you'd be something of an unofficial apprentice."

"Thanks. You're okay Rakurai."

Grinning, Harry smack the boy in the face with a pillow, watching as Naruto's face lit up at the prospect of a fight. Good, that's what he wanted to see.

* * *

><p>Laid awake and staring up at the stars -and really, how cool could a room get, showing the night's sky twinkling away?- Naruto tapped his fingers together. He couldn't sleep, didn't want to. Would it all be a dream? Iruka had accepted him yes, but Iruka had known, had been there in the attack. Rakurai wasn't much older than him, only a handful of months.<p>

But the white haired boy had looked him in the eyes and told him he didn't care. Naruto had been able to see the genuine emotion on his face, the fact he saw Naruto, not the fox. But was that because Rakurai hadn't been the village? Hadn't seen the way they scorned him, hated the fact he was amongst them?

Looking back over at the head of sleeping white hair, Naruto shook his head. He didn't think Rakurai would abandoned him. No. He'd been given the chance to not say anything about Naruto being the carrier of the Kyuubi. But instead he'd invited him over for dinner. Well, all of Team Seven really, but he'd still let Naruto come over without the presence of a Jonin, had been more than happy to be left alone with him. He'd been friendly, offered to teach him what he knew on sealing as long as they got the Old Man's permission. Oh, and if Rakurai's father said it was okay.

Naruto thought back on the picture he'd seen. Rakurai had been a tiny kid, especially when compared to the size of his dad. They'd both been covered in mud, so it was difficult to really see their features. But the family warmth had been there, a father son relationship. The Old Man had always told him his parents loved him, that they'd died in the Kyuubi attack defending their home. That he couldn't know who they were yet, not until he was strong enough to protect himself from their enemies. His parents must have been pretty good ninja then, to have enemies who'd want to kill their children.

And they'd loved him, the Old Man said so. He never lied, only omitted the truth. Naruto couldn't imagine the heart-break of knowing your mom didn't want you. But that's what Rakurai's mom had done. She'd given him away without a second glance, and had clearly not been in contact since. Naruto's mother had loved him enough to die for him, but Rakurai's had left him. Naruto would rather have had a loving mother who'd died than a living one who didn't want him. Because he wouldn't have been able to handle the rejection. Rakurai had to be pretty strong to admit that one of his parents didn't want him.

Then again, Rakurai was strong, as a ninja and a person. They might have gotten off to a bad start, but Naruto liked him. He'd just been too bull-headed at first to realize it. He'd made a friend now, a good one if he guessed correctly. He didn't exactly have many examples to compare against, but Naruto liked to think his friend real friend his age was a good one. They could do all sorts, train together, prank Iruka-sensei-

Iruka-sensei! He'd have to introduce Rakurai to his favourite sensei, the first person to really believe in him. Iruka would like Rakurai, Naruto was pretty sure of that. He wanted to be strong to protect the people he held dear to him, to look after everyone that he love.

And, and Naruto wanted to be the same. He needed to get stronger, because Rakurai was already plenty strong and didn't need looking after. But fights would be easier on his friend if they were both at the same level, both able to protect one another. To look after each other's backs. Wasn't that what Kakashi-sensei was always talking about? Teamwork?

Maybe he should try reaching out to Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan more. He hadn't liked Rakurai at first but he'd turned out to be a great person! And he already knew Sakura-chan was a great person. Hell, even Sasuke may have a shred of goodness somewhere deep down. Deep, deep, deep down. But he'd have to look for it first. Good thing they had training first thing in the morning. No D-ranks tomorrow, which was a sweet relief. He hated D-ranks, hated them with a passion. And speaking of training, Kakashi-sensei might try running them into the ground again, so he should probably get some sleep.

Yeah, sleep sounded like a good idea.

.

Naruto woke up to the scent of bacon. But he wasn't cooking, so who was in his flat? His eyes snapped open, and it took a few seconds before he remembered he wasn't in his flat or outside, but instead underneath a magic ceiling that his new friend, yes, friend, had enchanted. Because Naruto had cool friends like that.

He'd shot downstairs after getting dressed, woofing down a breakfast as good as the meal he'd had been last night, and Naruto had happily helped Rakurai pack up three bentos, one for Rakurai, one for Naruto -and no, his eyes hadn't watered when Rakurai had laughed and informed him one of those was his lunch- and one for Kakashi-sensei. Because according to Rakurai's father, the man didn't eat enough good food.

And while Naruto would never betray his beloved ramen he knew good food when he ate it.

So the two of them had set off after Rakurai had activated a seal array that would keep out anyone until the Chũnin turned it off, which was beyond cool. Naruto had known that seals could put something inside another thing, but he'd never known they could do more than that. If half the things Rakurai said were true then it was no wonder that everyone had been scared of the Fourth Hokage, a celebrated seal master. Naruto was going to be just as good, even if it took years. He should have studied them the second he found out he had one plastered across his stomach, but he'd been too focused on what was in his stomach, rather than what was holding it back.

No more. He was going to learn, he was going to beat Sasuke-teme and then he was going to become Hokage. And Rakurai could become his most trusted ninja alongside Iruka-sensei.

"You okay Naruto?"

Grinning back at the older boy, Naruto nodded.

"Yep! I'm excited for training today! I'm gonna run rings around Kakashi-sensei!" Pumping his fist in the air, Naruto leapt into the usual clearing, spotting Sasuke and Sakura who were already there.

"Good morning!"

Sasuke's scowl deepened, while Sakura huffed slightly, though her eyes did look over at Rakurai for a moment. Naruto ignored their less than stellar reactions, instead dropping the trio of home-made bentos -he'd never had a homemade bento before, but it would probably be as good as the rest of Rakurai's cooking- next to that of Sasuke and Sakura's.

"Rakurai! You're a Chũnin right? So you gotta know some super awesome ninja moves! Teach me?"

Rakurai grinned slightly, ruffling Naruto's hair and he looked up to judge the position of the sun in the sky.

"We have a good hour before Kakashi-sempai shows up," Rakurai mused, rubbing at his chin with his free hand, "have you ever done paired katas Naruto?"

Shaking his head, the blond rocked back on his feet, excitement coursing through him. It was a small thing to start with, katas that was, but the fact Rakurai hadn't said no was a big improvement on anyone else so far.

"Well then I'll show you what to do."

* * *

><p><strong>So, it seems that I got a good deal of free time today seeing as my grandparents got delayed and won't arrive for another two hours yet, so I had the time to crack out another chapter. Which is excellent news.<strong>

**It's shorter than the last, but I wanted to focus on Naruto and Rakurai/Harry's development and people and their friendship. I hope I did an okay job with it.**

**As for future pairing with Harry, I'm leaning towards a guy at the moment, but it's not set in stone yet.**

**.**

**Next Chapter; _Hit and Miss_, in which Harry picks his next target and Sakura has a sense of foreboding.  
><strong>

**.**

**Readying the home defences for the relative invasion,**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


	5. Hit and Miss

**The Biggest Toad in the Puddle**

_x _

**Chapter 4  
><strong>_Hit and Miss_

It'd been a week now since Harry had all but joined the ranks of Team Seven. And while he'd made leaps and bounds of progress with Naruto, it was evident that there would have to be an uphill battle to get to Sakura. And from what he'd heard regarding the last Uchiha and his circumstances, it would take an army to get through to the other boy. Kakashi came close to being as damaged as Sasuke, but he was both an adult and seemed to have coped on his own long enough, so Harry hoped the man would be able to keep doing so until he'd reined in the rest of the Genin.

Still though, at least he had managed to wrangle the man into coming over for dinner later today, which was more than he could say for any other day so far. Maybe it was because he'd invited Asuma and Team Ten as well, and that way Kakashi felt he'd have someone to actually talk to. Harry didn't care in all honesty, because at least he was coming. Which was more than he could say for his other two team-mates. Sasuke continually turned him down flat, whilst Sakura would wait to see what her crush would say before always copying his answer.

Having never really witnessed a girl with such an obsessive crush before, Harry was at a loss with how to get through to her, but he knew that he needed to start with Sakura. That was the extent of his knowledge. It was a good thing he was more of a go with the flow kind of guy, plans never seemed to hold together for him, and after the whole Gringotts robbery business, he'd just stopped trying. He always managed to pull it out of the bag, so why change a tried and true method that wasn't broken? He was a Gryffindor, he did Gryffindorish things. End of story.

So he just needed to figure out the start of his approach with Sakura, and take it from there.

And what he came up with, was sparring.

.

"Your friend was asking after you today." Harry parried a blow from Sakura's tiny fist with practised ease, sweeping his foot out and sending the girl tumbling to a side. On the other side of the training field, he could see Naruto and Sasuke sparring, with Kakashi not too far away reading his porn, but paying the two genin a small amount of attention. Enough that he'd notice if the spar turned into an outright fight to the death.

"What friend?" Sakura was panting, her endurance didn't seem to last past the first five minutes of battle, and while most fights between ninja never lasted any longer than that, her skills left little to be desired. In other words, she wouldn't be the one walking away from those battles.

Plucking the twin hair clips from his pocket, Harry set about securing his long bangs to the sides of his head, back and out of the way. He'd already tired of trying to get Sakura to hit him, her taijutsu just wasn't up to stuff. Something he'd already known, but was disappointed in all the same.

During the week he'd been in the company of Team Seven, he'd liberated the files belonging to those genin, along with the rest of their graduating year, from the academy office. Using Jiraiya's tried and true 'if you can get at the information, it's yours, classified or not', Harry had quickly memorized all that was written about Konoha's newest genin, before retreating from the secure from all things genin and below back-room in the academy right before a teacher popped in. His father had obviously taught him well, that much the village should have realized by now.

"Ino-chan?" Harry clarified, adjusting the light armoured sleeves that ran up his forearms, "she said you knew each other well in the academy. Now come on, I'm going to test your flexibility."

Sakura let out a huff, whether it was from trying to retrieve her breath again, or anger, Harry wasn't too sure. What he did know was that he had to break this girl of her fan-girl fascination. And there had to be some way of doing that aside from letting Sasuke battle with her to the death. Any way at all. But he was coming up blank at the moment.

"Cha! What was Ino-pig saying?!"

Harry wasn't the only one startled by the sudden outburst. Both Sasuke and Naruto's heads whipped around at the sudden outcry, only to get pulled into the ground by a giggling Kakashi, leaving the two boys buried up to their neck.

Harry blinked before turning back to look at the pink haired girl, eyeing her critically. Her hair was a rather nice shade, unusual, and it was clear she took good care of it. But scented shampoos would only mean being tracked by the enemy was easier, so he'd have to make a comment on that soon. Though he knew most kunoichi used their appearance and body to their advantage, Sakura wasn't quite at the age that it was going to work yet, not for another four years at the very least anyway. Her battle-dress was in a highly unpractical shade of red, the length long enough to trip over.

He'd seen the other team from their graduating year at a distance, and while their sensei also wore a bright red dress, she was Jonin level, and could probably account for the disadvantage such an outfit would lead to. Much like Naruto could regarding his orange. He'd already heard the tales from the blond who'd outrun ANBU during his pranks. And while the trained elite were obviously going easy on him, it still remained fact that getting chased by ANBU would drastically improve ones stealth.

Plus, Naruto could recover from anything other than instant death thanks to his tenant.

Sakura had none of these advantages to her name, and as such, needed to pull it together if she were to ever have a chance of surviving her first C-rank or above mission.

"She asked how your team is doing. I must say, you do have some cute nicknames for each other Sakura-san."

The girl had the decency to blush, nervously reaching to cover her forehead before stopping halfway. Ino had only been able to go two dinners before she'd slipped and called Sakura Forehead. It was better than the 'Scarhead' he'd once been blessed with though. At least Sakura had a chance to grow into her forehead.

"Are you okay to run through some more advanced katas, Sakura-san?"

"If Ino-pig can do it, so can I! Cha!"

.

Looking at the very, very tired girl, Harry raised an eyebrow. She'd only gotten through half the set before collapsing, and he had to admit he was a bit disappointed. She'd obviously not collapsed of exhaustion, for she wasn't sweating enough. Which meant that she'd stopped so she didn't ruin her appearance. Dear lord, this wasn't his area of expertise, he didn't know how to break a fan-girl out of her obvious obsession, he didn't even know where to start or who to ask advice from. He couldn't really bother the Hokage, and Kakashi was evidently just as clueless as him, simply picking up the pink haired girl and calling out that he'd drop her off at home.

Harry had nodded, watching the grey haired man disappear before turning back around to look at the two heads in the dirt, which were furiously trying to wiggle out.

"Need some help?" He asked, squatting down and starting to paw at the dirt between the two boys before either could reply.

"Thanks Rakurai!" Naruto grinned up at him, mud and dust slathered across his face and several leaves in his hair. Beside him, Sasuke gave a small grunt, looking away but Harry was able to spot between his bangs a fine dusting of pink across his cheeks. Had he been a civilian, he wouldn't have even noticed it was there.

"Dinner starts at six tonight Naruto-chan. I've invited Team Ten too, so there'll be lots to eat. Sasuke-san, you're invited too."

The black haired boy just grunted and Harry rolled his eyes skywards, praying for patience.

"Can we spar for a bit?"

Having managed to squirm about until his upper body was free, Naruto was now hastily digging himself out as his team-mate did the same, giving Harry the chance to lean back and watch the two work.

"If you'd like. Sasuke-san and yourself can team up against me."

"Yeah! Bring it on!"

* * *

><p>Sasuke Uchiha was in a conundrum. This did not happen often. But for the past week, he'd been trying to sort through the latest puzzle to be thrown his way by the universe.<p>

He did not know who the newest member of Team Seven was.

He knew the name he went by, Rakurai, that he'd never seen him before in the academy, and that he was a Chũnin. Those were the three most important facts. He remembered from lectures in the academy that a ninja may be added to the ranks if they were to swear loyalty to the village, be tested through the T&I department, and then placed on probation for six months. It differed upon the ninja.

However, he'd have heard of the other boy if that were the case.

Which meant the Hokage had been aware of the boy's existence before hand, knew who he had been trained by, and trusted said trainer explicitly.

It wasn't until he'd gotten home and set about going through a few more of his father's old police files that he figured out who that trainer was. Who his father was.

Every week for the past four years, Sasuke had been going through all of his father's paperwork, looking for clues or codes that may or may not have been there. It was today, approaching his second stack of paper, that he saw a face that made him pause.

The report was twenty years old, but the hastily taken mug-shot was familiar. It was Rakurai, but not. Older, with a stronger jaw-line, bigger nose and far more hair. So his father then. The name almost took his breath away.

The Chũnin boy that'd been placed upon his team was the son of a Sannin.

It all made perfect sense.

Why the Hokage would happily accept a new ninja that'd not been trained at the academy, why the boy was a Chũnin at his age. He was a little puzzled and then almost embarrassed for his team-mate when he learnt his own father had tried to arrest the man for peeking in on the women's bathhouse, but had escaped justice on the back of a hastily summoned toad. It sounded like something out a book, and suddenly, Sasuke was wary because he knew of a book with that name on it. Those stupid books Kakashi read had been wrote by a Jiraiya.

And now, he had a very good feeling he knew exactly which Jiraiya had wrote them.

How the hell was Rakurai so normal with that as a dad? Or was his team-mate secretly just hiding his oddities until they got comfortable with him?

Regardless, the boy was the son of a Sannin, had been trained by one, so it wasn't that surprising that he was a Chũnin now. He wasn't just some unknown kid that'd popped up out of nowhere. He was clearly important in the scheme of things and had been put of their team as a result. What could Rakurai provide their team that meant he was assigned to them instead of the usual Chũnin team? Sasuke wasn't sure.

But he was going to find out.

.

"Sasuke-san?"

Stood with one hand buried deep in his shorts pocket and the other holding a bag of dango, the only food he'd seen Rakurai eat, Sasuke raised a questioning brow.

"You invited me?" True he'd not really had much intention of turning up until he'd gone through his father's paperwork, and true he was five minutes late because he'd had a bit of a problem finding this stupid house, but he'd still turned up.

Something which seemed to have shocked Rakurai.

The white haired boy was looking at him in unmasked confusion, but never the less stood to a side, holding open the door for Sasuke to pass through. His first thought was that the house felt warm, even though it didn't look too lived in. There was just an air about the place that screamed friendly, from the red and gold cushions to the warm brown floorboards.

"Sasuke," Kakashi, who'd clearly gotten up to see where their host had disappeared to, also seemed somewhat perplexed at his presence, and Sasuke had to force himself not to roll his eyes in annoyance. Surely the fact he'd bothered to turn up wasn't that shocking, was it?

"Kakashi."

His teacher looks back at him again, that lazy dark eye glinting with something unspoken, before it creased upwards in a smile, hiding the man's thoughts once again.

"Looks like we're only missing Sakura then."

Sasuke grunted, making his way into the kitchen and taking in those present with sharp eyes. Team ten, consisting of Ino, Shikamaru and Choji are already digging into what would easily pass as a feast, their sensei sat beside them and completely at home. The dobe is also sat up to table, chatting animatedly with Choji and gesturing wildly around with his chopsticks, ignorant of the soy sauce splattered across his cheek.

Rakurai walked past him after depositing his gift upon the table, welcomed by an amused eye-roll from Shikamaru, a boisterous greeting from both Naruto and Choji. But it's Ino's reaction that Sasuke takes note of. The girl's eyes light up with genuine warmth at the sight of the white haired boy, launching into a quick rendition of something that'd happened in the market place and wasn't the shinobi mindset just dandy? She doesn't look at him like a lovestruck puppy, but with a genuine respect for his abilities as both a person and a ninja. The Chũnin seems to have earned Yamanaka's respect, and Sasuke can't remember her looking at anyone else their age like that. Almost as if she considered him a big brother. He pushed that thought away with a grimace, scowling as he did so. He did not need to be thinking about big brothers. Not at all. Of course, a distraction was quickly provided.

"Eh?! Teme?! What are you doing here?!"

* * *

><p>Sakura Haruno drew her legs up to her chest and let out a low sigh, running a and through her perfectly combed pink hair. She was right on time for their team meeting, as usual. Only, Sasuke was not. She couldn't understand why not, where was her precious Sasuke-kun? He should have been here, should have been sat upon the ground beside her, his dark eyes focused on something in the distance, that gorgeous tilt to his lips that said he was thinking on a rather heavy topic. Only, he wasn't there for her to stare at. He was not present, and she couldn't quite understand why.<p>

At least, not until an hour after the designated meeting time, when he showed up.

With the rest of her team-mates.

Sakura stared, lips parting as her mouth popped opened to form a lazy 'o' of surprise. Sasuke was walking alongside Rakurai, not talking but certainly listening to what the white haired boy had to say. The Chũnin was gesturing animatedly with his hands, trying to describe something to her future husband with a teasing grin on his face as he gently elbowed Naruto in the ribs, throwing a sly remark over his shoulder as he did so. The blond boy squawked, arms flapping about as he defending himself against whatever remark had been made.

And Sasuke was smirking. It wasn't the smirk she'd dreamed of bringing to his face, but it was more of an upturned of his lips than she'd ever gotten.

"You're late!" Sakura cried, leaping to her feet and pointing at Naruto. Obviously she was going to point at, and accuse, Naruto. He was neither a) her military superior or b) her future husband.

The blond blinked back at her before offering a sheepish grin, rubbing nervously at the back of his head. However, it was Rakurai that answered for her, dropping the scroll he'd been lugging about on his shoulder and grinning up at her as he knelt down before it.

"That's Naruto's fault I guess. The klutz tripped over Sasuke-san in the middle of the night going to the bathroom, and landed on my alarm-clock. Which of course broke."

Naruto let out a cry of outrage before he pounced on the white haired boy, but Sakura didn't focus on them. Instead, she looked at Sasuke, who's smirk had grown ever so slightly as he muttered a low 'dobe' beneath his breath. By this point, Rakurai had a good handle on Naruto's oversized collar, so the whiskered blond never got to switch the target of his attack around. Her head was still spinning. Because if Naruto had tripped over Sasuke in order to break Rakurai's alarm in the middle of the night, that meant-

"You had a sleepover without me?"

The three boy's paused, turning to look at her with their faces going carefully blank. Rakurai dropped his captive, once again crouching before his scroll and unrolling it this time.

"I did invite you for dinner Sakura-san. I didn't intend for it to become a sleepover, but Sasuke-san had a lot of questions regarding my upbringing and training, and by the time he was somewhat satisfied it was past midnight and thus easier for him to just stay over."

She felt somewhat left out. And stupefied.

Sasuke had gone to a team dinner? Sasuke had actually actually gone out of his way to be sociable with the team? All the team but her? Had she done something wrong? Offended him in any way? There was those words he'd said to her just after team placement, when she'd foolishly thought he'd been about to kiss her. But, but he still couldn't hold a grudge against her now, could he? It seemed like such a long time had passed since then.

A sudden burst of smoke startled her to attention, and Sakura readied herself to scream at her tardy sensei again. Only, he wasn't the source of the smoke. Instead, what looked like a half assembled obstacle course had appeared from out of nowhere. A dangerous looking obstacle course. With lots of sharp looking weapons and even a ring of fire.

"Right, well, since Kakashi-sempai won't be showing up for a while, I figured we could start running the three of your through this? It's about genin level, so you should all be fine..." The boy with the snow shock hair rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck, offering a hesitant smile.

Sakura let out a breath as the Chũnin quickly went about setting up the rest of the course. From the dark gleam in Sasuke's eyes, the boy was going to give it his all. Naruto too, if the glittering grin on his face was any indication. She couldn't be left behind. Not like she'd been with the team dinner again. So what if she got a little sweaty this time? Sasuke wouldn't be able to smell it over the scent of whatever was keeping that fire burning anyway.

She could do this, she really could.

She was going to be a great ninja and then she'd get to go on all the same missions as Sasuke-kun and the two of them would have to fall completely in love with each other. Probably on a battlefield, he'd sweep her up into his arms, stare down at her with those dark eyes suddenly alight with realization at the fact the love of his life and her large forehead had been right in front of him all along, then he'd lean in, lips parting ever so slightly and whisper-

"Sakura-chan watch out!" Naruto's strangled cry was the only warning she got before a boxing glove exploded out of the nearest suspicious looking box and slammed into her jaw.

She almost tripped back into the swamp that'd appeared out of nowhere, when a blur of motion came at her from the left and suddenly Rakurai was there, grabbing her boy the long hem of her dress and reeling her back in. Saving her from what would have been a face full of mud. And not the nice, spa kind either.

"Pay attention Sakura-san, I had said start."

Nodding, Sakura turned back to see her team-mates had already taken off.

Okay, she could do this.

* * *

><p><strong>First of all, sorry this took so long. Uni happened, gobbling up most of my time. Second of all, sorry it's so short. There was just little more to write for this chapter. It's kinda a filler before the ball really gets rolling. I guess you could say Part 1 of this story has ended. Introductory chapter over and done with. <strong>

**Also, those of you who all went; no relations, yes relations, this relation, that relation. I've made my decision. This is going to be a GEN fic right up until the end. As in, Epilogue end. So, yeah. Sorry if you were expecting romance, but it's the team bonds and basically 'Harry the Fixer-Upper' that's the focus of this story. **

**.**

**Next Chapter; **_The Advanced Guard; _Harry's record of attracting trouble holds true and Tazuna is getting the creeps from the white haired brat**  
><strong>

**.**

**Weary from the over-abundance of university work,**

**Tsume  
>xxx<strong>


End file.
